Primary tabs
Biography
Patricia A. Cassano, MPH, Ph.D., is the Alan D. Mathios Professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University. The Division of Nutritional Sciences is in the Colleges of Human Ecology and Agriculture and Life Sciences. Dr. Cassano served as Interim Director (2018-2019), then as Director of the Division of Nutrition Sciences (2019-Jan 2024). She is also Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences Division of Epidemiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, and she served as Director of Graduate Studies in Epidemiology (through January 2024), Cornell University Graduate School. Dr. Cassano received her MPH in Epidemiology from Columbia University and her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Washington.
Dr. Cassano’s major research interests are in the epidemiology and prevention of chronic lung disease focusing on dietary and lifestyle risk and on gene-environment interactions. She has methodological expertise in the design, conduct and analysis of analytical epidemiological studies, including long-term prospective cohort studies incorporating biological markers of nutrition and metabolism and molecular markers of genetic variation. Dr. Cassano’s research group has conducted various types of studies to investigate the role of nutrition in lung phenotypes, and Dr. Cassano led the Respiratory Ancillary Study to the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). The findings from her research have contributed to the evidence base informing public health policies and programs to prevent chronic diseases including lung disease.
Dr. Cassano’s interests include the translation of research evidence to policy and practice. She serves as Director of Cornell's PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre on Nutrition Research for Health and as Director of the Cochrane US Network Cornell Associate Center for Nutrition. She directs the annual WHO/Cochrane/Cornell Summer Institute on Systematic Reviews in Nutrition for Global Policy Making, which is a collaborative effort among the World Health Organization, Cochrane and the Division of Nutritional Sciences. The Summer Institute has trained over 200 participants from around the world and the resulting systematic reviews are contributing to WHO guidelines to inform nutrition policies and programs. Dr. Cassano is a co-Director of the Joan Klein Jacobs Center for Precision Nutrition and Health in the College of Human Ecology.
Dr. Cassano leads the NIH T32 Nutrition Training Program and she contributes lectures to the foundation course in Epidemiology for graduate students in the Weill Cornell Medical College Translational Science program in Clinical Investigation. She also teaches the grant writing course for graduate field of nutrition PhD students.
Research interests
Dr. Cassano is co-investigator in the Research Coordinating Center of the NIH Common Fund’s Nutrition for Precision Health, powered by the All of Us Research Program, which aims to develop algorithms that predict individual responses to food and dietary patterns. Dr. Cassano is principle investigator for an recently completed NIH-funded study of gene x nutrient interactions in relation to pulmonary function decline and risk of COPD (multi-PIs PA Cassano, DB Hancock). This work is led to new discoveries of genetic variants that interact with nutrition, including vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, to influence lung function.
Not working with students at this time.
- Ongoing research as co-Investigator in the Research Coordinating Center of the NIH Common Fund’s Nutrition for Precision Health, powered by the All of Us Research Program, which seeks to develop algorithms that predict individual responses to food and dietary patterns.
- Finalizing, as principal investigator, a series of Gene x nutrient studies of pulmonary function phenotypes partly within the CHARGE consortium, also using UK Biobank, under the auspices of recently completed NIH R01-funded project (Multi PIs PA Cassano and D Hancock (RTI))
- Systematic reviews of nutrient--disease associations, including review of vitamin D to prevent asthma and related outcomes, and a review of B vitamins for sickle cell disease.
Dr. Cassano contributes lectures to a graduate course in Epidemiology, and teaches a graduate course in grant-writing. In addition, she co-directs (with Prof Julia Finkelstein) the annual WHO/Cochrane/Cornell University Summer Institute for Systematic Reviews in Nutrition for Global Policy Making. Dr. Cassano advises PhD and MS students in the field of nutrition and undergraduates majoring in Human Biology Health and Society, Nutritional Sciences, and Global and Public Health Sciences, including students in the College of Human Ecology and in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
NS7040 : Grant Writing
No course number: Summer Institute on Systematic Reviews in Nutrition for Global Policy Making
Selected Publications from 2021 to present:
- BK Patchen, AG Clark, DB Hancock, N Gaddis, Cassano PA. Genetically predicted serum vitamin D and COVID-19: a Mendelian randomization study. 2021. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health 2021; bmjnph-2021-000255. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjnph-2021-000255.
- J Xu, KA Guertin, NC Gaddis, AH Agler, RS Parker, JM Feldman, AR Kristal, KB Arnold, PJ Goodman, CM Tangen, DB Hancock, and PA Cassano. 2022. Change in Plasma Alpha-Tocopherol Associations with Attenuated Pulmonary Function Decline and with CYP4F2 Missense Variation. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 115, Issue 4, April 2022, Pages 1205–1216, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqac013
- Patchen BK, Balte P, Bartz TM, Barr RG, Fornage M, Graff M, Jacobs DR Jr., Kalhan R, Lemaitre RN, O’Connor G, Psaty B, Seo J, Tsai MY, Wood AC, Xu H, Zhang J, Gharib SA, Manichaikul A, North K, Steffen LM, Dupuis J, Oelsner E, Hancock DB, Cassano PA. Investigating associations of omega-3 fatty acids, lung function decline, and airway obstruction. 2023. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2023 Oct 15;208(8):846-857. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202301-0074OC.PMID: 37470492.
- J Seo*, NC Gaddis*, BK Patchen, J Xu, RG Barr, G O’Connor, AW Manichaikul, SA Gharib, J Dupuis, KE North, PA Cassano*, DB Hancock*. 2024. Exploiting meta-analysis of genome-wide interaction with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D to identify novel genetic loci associated with pulmonary function. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2024,119(5):1227-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.03.007
Cornell University Graduate Field Membership: Nutrition; Epidemiology
2022- present: Steering Committee, Friends of NIH Office of Nutrition Research, American Society of Nutrition
2021-2022: Past Chair, Association of Nutrition Departments and Programs
2016- present: Member, Weill Cornell Medicine, Clinical & Translational Science Center Education Advisory Board
Dr. Cassano is a member of:
- Society for Epidemiologic Research
- American Thoracic Society
- American Society for Nutritional Sciences
Dr. Cassano serves as Director of Cornell's PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre on Nutrition Research for Health and as Director of the Cochrane US Network Cornell Associate Center for Nutrition. She co-directs the WHO/Cochrane/Cornell Summer Institute on Systematic Reviews in Nutrition for Global Policy Making, which is a collaborative effort among the World Health Organization, Cochrane and the Division of Nutritional Sciences. The Summer Institute has trained over 200 participants from around the world and the resulting systematic reviews are contributing to WHO guidelines to inform nutrition policies and programs.
Co-Director, Joan Klein Jacobs Center for Precision Nutrition & Health
1987, Ph.D., Epidemiology, University of Washington
1980, M.P.H., Epidemiology, Columbia University
1976, A.B. , Biological Sciences, Mt. Holyoke College